Are Jews the only people defined by both religion and ethnicity?

Answer 1

This is an erroneous question. In defining ethnicity, as taken from the UK Statistics Board (which is linked to below):

Membership of any ethnic group is something that is subjectively meaningful to the person concerned, and can be based upon a combination of categories such as:

• country of birth
• nationality
• language spoken at home
• parents' country of birth in conjunction with country of birth
• skin colour
• national/geographical origin
• racial group
• religion

There are Jews from all races (Oriental, Indian, Semitic, and Arab), African, Caucasian, Latin, etc.). These are not converts, but people descended as Jews through thousands of years of history. Jews are found in most countries of the world (Libya expelled every last one after Israel regained her independence in 1948, and it is noteworthy that over 1 million Jews were expelled from Muslim lands (Arab and Persian [Iran], while about half that number of Muslims were displaced, at their own choosing [Israel asked them to stay and live in peace], from Israel, yet the UN has not passed one resolution for these 1 million Jewish refugees). Wherever Jews are found, they speak the local language and observe local customs, in addition to practicing their Judaic religious customs and the worship styles of their religious communities. Jews are no different in this regard than Christians or Muslims throughout the world, who practice their religions within their communities and countries.

In short, being Jewish is not an ethnicity.

Answer 2

In the general spirit of the question, I would disagree with Answer 1 in that Judaism is not an ethnicity. Living in diverse regions across the world does not prohibit a group of people from maintaining an ethnic character and the Romani (Gypsies) would be a clear example of another ethnicity that exists across multiple cultures. However, the Romani have no uniform religion, often believing a bowdlerized version of the local dominant faith.

There are several other groups that are both ethnically and religiously defined, but the Jews are certainly among the most famous, most numerous, and most widely scattered. The next most commonly referred to group like this is the Druze, an ethno-religious group that is split between the nations of Syria, Israel, and Lebanon. The Druze religion is for the most part secretive, but what is known about is that it has become an independent offshoot of Shi'a Islam (in the same way that Baha'i has become an independent offshoot of Shi'a Islam). In both the case of the Druze and the Baha'i, both followers of those faiths and Muslims do not believe the Druze and Baha'i to be the same or to be Muslim.

Another group of people live on the northern border of Iraq and Iran and are called the Yazidi. They have a religion related to Zoroastrianism but influenced by Islam. Ethnically, they are similar to the Kurds and are occasionally considered to be Kurdish, but while some Kurds do believe in Yazidism, most see it as a heresy and separate identity and most Yazidi would not identify as Kurdish if asked.

The Copts of Egypt are almost as numerous as the Jews (perhaps larger). They represent the original inhabitants of Egypt and practice a unique form of Christianity that is practiced by no other ethnic group. However, Copts do not traditionally consider themselves a distinct race since many Muslim Egyptians also trace their lineage back to Coptic ancestors who converted centuries ago and Coptic Christians are still in communion with the larger Church and as such are not an entirely unique religion as Jews, Druze, and Yazidi are.